April walked down the street, heels clicking in a melancholy way. A few raindrops fell from the overcast sky, and she sighed as she pulled her satchel closer to her hip, trying to protect the valuable cargo within.
True, the items within weren't actually valued at much, but to April, they were gold.
She fiddled with the latches of her bag, double checking the comic books within were covered. She smiled down at them, her one ray of sunlight in an otherwise black and white world.
"Oh I wish I could join you all," she whispers, looking back to where she was going. April moved faster, trying to beat the rain home in hopes she wouldn't have to pay for a cab.
And because Lady Luck is a bitch, the sky's opened up above her. With a yelp, she jumped under the awning of a news stand.
"Oh for God's sake!" she rants, weakly shaking her fist at the sky. The older man behind the desk chuckles, then coughs.
April turns to him and smiles weakly, and he does the same, deepening the weathered lines on his face. He wordlessly started to fix the piles of papers around him.
"Have you heard the news?" He asked, pushing forward a stray paper. The old man looked down as she hesitantly took the paper, the corners curling up in the humidity of the rain.
Taxi Driver Continues to Bring People Where They Need
"Ha. Glad to see they're doing their jobs," April laughs dryly. Still not looking at her, he pointed and tapped the article.
She reads on, holding the paper closer to her nose to be able to make out the small font underneath the headline.
It explained how a taxi driver, unknown to anyone, was riding around in a cab, taking people where they needed to go, not where they wanted to go. No one knew how he did it. Some people had little problems fixed. Some had their whole livelihood changed for the better.
"It's bull shit. Fake news, no offense to you," April says, dropping the news back in front of him. He chuckled, and pointed to her bag.
"So is what's in your bag there. But does that make you stop believing in it?" He asked. He propped his elbow on the plywood counter, resting his chin in his hand.
Her own hand flew to the closed flap of her bag, grabbing a handful of the canvas. April's mouth popped open, then closed. Open and closed.
"What, do you have x-ray vision?" She laughs nervously. With a chuckle, he shook his head, patting the top of the table a few times.
"No, just highly perceptive. Your bag bulges in a way that it holds small books, thin books. By the logo on your shirt, they are comic books. And by the smile you gave them, they bring you hope and joy in this drear world." She narrows her eyes at him, and he smiles.
"Well, I'm going to go. Thanks for the chat," she says, zipping her hoodie over her Avengers shirt. He nods and waggles his fingers at April. A tiny shiver runs down her spine as she turns on her heel.
She approaches the curb, and sticks her arm out to hail one of the many cabs racing around the streets of New York. With squealing tires, a banana mobile stops in front of her, and she slips into the back.
She rambles off her address, then rests her forehead on the cool glass of the window. The driver of her cab, a young man, mid twenties, same as April, nods to the older man behind the news stand.
The driver takes off, trying to strike up a simple conversation. All she does is look at him, and his grey eyes meet hers in the rear view mirror. He shuts his mouth and talk quickly fizzles out.
April's mind drifts to the MCU, different scenes playing out behind her eyes. She smiles gently, huffing a sigh. Her eyes drift closed, and the lights drift by behind her eyelids.
One huge flash and a sound like shattering glass startle April out of her maladaptive dreaming. Her eyes fly open, and her head picks up. Looking around frantically, she notices the driver is driving on calmly, as if nothing was happening.
April looks out to the streets again, and freezes.
Not only has the rain stopped, but the sky is crystal blue, not a cloud to be seen. Nothing was wet. The buildings seem shinier, the people seem more colorful.
The third thing she notices is that she is most definitely not on her street.
"Where the hell are you taking me?" She asks, pushing herself into the corner, and slowly unbuckling her seat belt. The driver looks in his mirror to April, then back to the road.
"I'm taking you to where you need to be," He says simply. She shakes her head, and grips her bag.
"Oh no no. Where I need to be is home. This is not home." Her brain flickers back to the news article that she had called bull shit on.
"Ah, but that's only where you think you need to be. I've been around humans long enough to know that your race doesn't always know what they need."
She opens her mouth, about to question his complexing and downright insane statement, but her jaw snaps shut. April meets his gaze in the rear view mirror, and where there once were grey eyes, now sit two glowing white orbs.
Her heart pounds against her rib cage, sending blood rushing to her brain, and making her dizzy. With a slight shake of her head, she try's to fix what she's seeing. Nope, it's still there.
"What the fuck are you?" April asks, knuckles turning white with her iron grip on her satchel.
He says nothing. Instead, he pulls to a stop at the curb, and turns around in his seat, one arm holding onto the headrest of the passenger seat.
His entire demeanor was calm, giving her the same unnatural sensation. When he spoke, his voice came as some sort of echoing ethereal sound.
"I hope you find what you're looking for." That was the last thing he said before she stepped out of the car slowly, as to not draw attention to herself.
She backed away, and the car seemingly vanished into thin air. Looking around, she was the only one to have noticed.
A shiver ran up her spine as she checked her surroundings. There were people bustling around everywhere. They wore business suits, making her feel immediately out of place in her old hoodie and ripped jeans.
She had never seen the area of the city she was in. It was clean, for New York. Not as noise polluted, and with more sun.
She turned to look at the building she was standing in front of. It looked vaguely familiar, so she let her eyes travel from the lobby doors, up, up, up, where at the top, April stopped.
"This shit can't be real."
Her mouth dropped open as April took in the sight. Nestled right where a company logo would be, was a giant letter A, glowing electrically.